New Delhi: The government is planning a 13-digit number for SIM-based machine to machine (M2M) communication, which will be used for controlling various devices including surveillance camera, car and child-tracking devices and smart electric metres using the internet.

The telecom department is understood to have informed operators, including state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), that a 13-digit numbering plan will be used for machine to machine (M2M) communication.

New Delhi: India has become the second-biggest market globally in terms of smartphone connections, overtaking the US and trailing only China. More and more Indians are logging on the internet using their mobiles, aided by availability of low-priced smartphones — a significant number of them assembled locally and sold for as low as Rs 3,000 — and rapid expansion of 3G and 4G networks.

According to figures provided by global telecom body GSMA, smartphone connections in India at the end of the first half of this year (ending June 2016) stood at 275 million, higher than 259 million connections in the US. China, however, leads by a huge margin with overall smartphone connections at 910 million.

Bengaluru: Visa Inc, the global payments technology solution firm, will make India the global test hub to pilot an app-based mobile payments service — mVisa. The app enables users to transfer money and make micro payments for services such as buying bus tickets or shopping groceries from a retailer.

Visa has tied up with about 20,000 merchants in Bengaluru and Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI to pilot the service from September. “The opportunity for electronic payments to penetrate the Indian market is increasing,” said Charlie Scharf, chief executive officer, Visa, on Wednesday.

India has 160 million smartphone users. The base is expected to register a 23 per cent compounded annual growth rate till 2017, according to Vserv, a platform for mobile marketing and commerce.

New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is considering simultaneous auction in the 2,100-MHz spectrum along with that in the 800-MHz, 900-MHz and 1,800-MHz bands, in the auction scheduled to start on February 23.

Earlier, DoT had planned to auction spectrum in the 800-MHz, 900-MHz and 1,800-MHz bands at a go, 3G spectrum in the 2,100-MHz band a few months later by when, it hoped, the tussle between the defence and the telecom ministries on swapping spectrum in the 2,100-MHz band would be resolved. The change in strategy followed Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar resolving the issue on Monday. The defence ministry has agreed to swap its 15-MHz spectrum in 2,100-MHz band with the same amount in the 1,900-MHz band, under the DoT.